Typed Quantum Logic

The aim of this paper was to lift traditional quantum logic to its higher order version with the help of a type-theoretic method. A higher order axiomatic system is defined explicitly and then a sound and complete class of models is given. This is an attempt to provide a quantum counterpart of classical set theory or intuitionistic topos.     

Peirce, Clifford, and Quantum Theory

Beginning in 1870 Charles Sanders Peirce published a series of papers on a logic of relations, which corresponded to a linear associative algebra. This algebra is related by a linear transformation to quaternions and thus to the C(3, 0) algebra of William Kingdon Clifford. This Clifford algebra contains the Pauli matrices and so constitutes an operator basis for the nonrelativistic quantum theory of spin one-half particles. A further unification is achieved by taking the wave functions themselves to be 2 × 2 matrices which are Peirce logical operators and also elements of the Clifford algebra. Thus we have discovered a direct path from the Peirce logic to quantum theory. A diagrammatic method follows from the Peirce/Clifford algebraic approach and is suitable for describing particle interactions.     

Grammar Theory Based on Quantum Logic

Motivated by Ying' work on automata theory based on quantum logic (Ying, M. S. (2000). International Journal of Therotical Physics, 39(4): 985–996; 39(11): 2545–2557) and inspired by the close relationship between the automata theory and the theory of formal grammars, we have established a basic framework of grammar theory on quantum logic and shown that the set of l-valued quantum regular languages generated by l-valued quantum regular grammars coincides with the set of l-valued quantum languages recognized by l-valued quantum automata.     

Free-Fall Non-Universality in Quantum Theory

The author shows by embodying the Einstein equivalence principle—local Poincaré invariance—and general covariance in quantum theory that wave-function spreading rules out the universality of free fall, that is, the free-fall trajectory of a quantum (test) particle depends on its internal properties. The author provides a quantitative estimate of the free-fall non-universality in terms of the Eötvös parameter, which turns out to be measurable in atom interferometry.     

Pumping Lemma for Quantum Automata

Not all lattice-valued quantum automata possess the pumping property in its strict form. However the pumping lemma can be generalized, and all lattice-valued quantum automata possess the generalized pumping property.     

Effective Field Theory of Random Quantum Circuits

Quantum circuits have been widely used as a platform to simulate generic quantum many-body systems. In particular, random quantum circuits provide a means to probe universal features of many-body quantum chaos and ergodicity. Some such features have already been experimentally demonstrated in noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) devices. On the theory side, properties of random quantum circuits have been studied on a case-by-case basis and for certain specific systems, and a hallmark of quantum chaos—universal Wigner–Dyson level statistics—has been derived. This work develops an effective field theory for a large class of random quantum circuits. The theory has the form of a replica sigma model and is similar to the low-energy approach to diffusion in disordered systems. The method is used to explicitly derive the universal random matrix behavior of a large family of random circuits. In particular, we rederive the Wigner–Dyson spectral statistics of the brickwork circuit model by Chan, De Luca, and Chalker [Phys. Rev. X 8, 041019 (2018)] and show within the same calculation that its various permutations and higher-dimensional generalizations preserve the universal level statistics. Finally, we use the replica sigma model framework to rederive the Weingarten calculus, which is a method of evaluating integrals of polynomials of matrix elements with respect to the Haar measure over compact groups and has many applications in the study of quantum circuits. The effective field theory derived here provides both a method to quantitatively characterize the quantum dynamics of random Floquet systems (e.g., calculating operator and entanglement spreading) and a path to understanding the general fundamental mechanism behind quantum chaos and thermalization in these systems.     

Anthropic Interpretation of Quantum Theory

The problem of interpreting quantum theory on a large (e.g. cosmological) scale has been commonly conceived as a search for objective reality in a framework that is fundamentally probabilistic. The Everett programme attempts to evade the issue by the reintroduction of determinism at the global level of a state vector of the universe. The present approach is based on the recognition that, like determinism, objective reality is an unrealistic objective. It is shown how an objective theory of an essentially subjective reality can be set up using an appropriately weighted probability measure on the relevant set of Hilbert subspaces. It is suggested that an entropy principle (superseding the weak anthropic principle) should be used to provide the weighting that is needed. The application of this ansatz to a toy gedanken example (involving Schroedinger's legendary cat) is described in an appendix.     

Foundation for Quantum Computing

In this paper we introduce a minimal formal intuitionistic propositional Gentzen sequent calculus for handling quantum types, quantum storage being introduced syntactically along the lines of Girard's of course operator !. The intuitionistic fragment of orthologic is found to be translatable into this calculus by means of a quantum version of the Heyting paradigm. When realized in the category of finite dimensional Hilbert spaces, the familiar qubit arises spontaneously as the irreducible storage capable quantum computational unit, and the necessary involvement of quantum entanglement in the quantum duplication process is plainly and explicitly visible. Quantum computation is modelled by a single extra axiom, and reproduces the standard notion when interpreted in a larger category.     

Quantum Theory from Four of Hardy's Axioms

In a recent paper [e-print quant-ph/0101012], Hardy has given a derivation of quantum theory from five reasonable axioms. Here we show that Hardy's first axiom, which identifies probability with limiting frequency in an ensemble, is not necessary for his derivation. By reformulating Hardy's assumptions, and modifying a part of his proof, in terms of Bayesian probabilities, we show that his work can be easily reconciled with a Bayesian interpretation of quantum probability.     

Foundation for Quantum Computing II

In this continuation of an earlier paper we develop further the theme of quantum logical specification and derive from it some apparently physically viable instantiations of potential quantum computing devices. Specifically, in the case of a one-parameter set of terms (or labels)—read as instants of time—we find, emerging quite naturally from the algebraic setup, the paradigm for a single qubit epitomized by the case of a two-state fermion interacting with an external single mode boson. This covers the cases: cavity QED, trapped ions, and, when the qubits are multiplexed appropriately, NMR based systems. (This case degenerates to one in which only bosons are relevant as in the case of pure bosonic harmonic oscillator models in the “dual rail” representation. Such models fly in the face of the logic itself, thus clearly revealing even at this level their well-known shortcomings as practical quantum computing devices. Here as elsewhere logical constraints apparently dominate physical ones.) In a final section we indicate briefly how this process exactly generalizes, in the case of a manifold of terms more general than the one-parameter case, to yield the notion of holonomic quantum computation. In the course of this investigation we find an interpretation of path integrals as limits of sequences of logical CUTS, thus establishing a link—though still tenuous—between ensembles of acts of quantum computation and Lagrangians.     

Characterizing Quantum Theory in Terms of Information-Theoretic Constraints

We show that three fundamental information-theoretic constraints—the impossibility of superluminal information transfer between two physical systems by performing measurements on one of them, the impossibility of broadcasting the information contained in an unknown physical state, and the impossibility of unconditionally secure bit commitment—suffice to entail that the observables and state space of a physical theory are quantum-mechanical. We demonstrate the converse derivation in part, and consider the implications of alternative answers to a remaining open question about nonlocality and bit commitment.     

Quantum Computational Logic

A quantum computational logic is constructed by employing density operators on spaces of qubits and quantum gates represented by unitary operators. It is shown that this quantum computational logic is isomorphic to the basic sequential effect algebra [0, 1].     

Conventions in Relativity Theory and Quantum Mechanics

The conventionalistic aspects of physical world perception are reviewed with an emphasis on the constancy of the speed of light in relativity theory and the irreversibility of measurements in quantum mechanics. An appendix contains a complete proof of Alexandrov's theorem using mainly methods of affine geometry.     

Qubit Semantics and Quantum Trees

In the qubit semantics the meaning of any sentence α is represented by a quregister: a unit vector of the n–fold tensor product ⊗ⁿ ℂ², where n depends on the number of occurrences of atomic sentences in α (see Cattaneo et al.). The logic characterized by this semantics, called quantum computational logic (QCL), is unsharp, because the noncontradiction principle is violated. We show that QCL does not admit any logical truth. In this framework, any sentence α gives rise to a quantum tree, consisting of a sequence of unitary operators. The quantum tree of α can be regarded as a quantum circuit that transforms the quregister associated to the occurrences of atomic subformulas of α into the quregister associated to α.     

Quantum Field Theory and Dense Measurement

We show, using quantum field theory (QFT), that performing a large number of identical repetitions of the same measurement does not only preserve the initial state of the wave function (the Zeno effect), but also produces additional physicaleffects. We first discuss the Zeno effect in the framework of QFT, that is, as a quantum field phenomenon. We then derive it from QFT for the general case in which the initial and final states are different. We use perturbation theory and Feynman diagrams and refer to the measurement act as an external constraint upon the system that corresponds to the perturbative diagram that denotes this constraint. The basic physical entities dealt with in this work are not the conventional once-perfomed physical processes, but their n times repetition where n tends to infinity. We show that the presence of these repetitions entails the presence of additional excited state energies, and the absence of them entails the absence of these excited energies.     

量子场论中的自旋算符

从量子场论的角度对相对论粒子的运动自旋概念作了进一步深入研究.构造了场量子自旋以及场系统运动自旋两个新算符.给出了场量子自旋动量空间的显式表达式以及用Poincar啨群生成元表示的场系统运动自旋的显式表达式.借助这两个算符,可以干净地解决有关场自旋的问题,表明它们才是场自旋的恰当的算符.     

A Kinetic Theory Approach to Quantum Gravity

We describe a kinetic theory approach to quantum gravity by which we mean a theory of the microscopic structure of space-time, not a theory obtained by quantizing general relativity. A figurative conception of this program is like building a ladder with two knotty poles: quantum matter field on the right and space-time on the left. Each rung connecting the corresponding knots represents a distinct level of structure. The lowest rung is hydrodynamics and general relativity; the next rung is semiclassical gravity, with the expectation value of quantum fields acting as source in the semiclassical Einstein equation. We recall how ideas from the statistical mechanics of interacting quantum fields helped us identify the existence of noise in the matter field and its effect on metric fluctuations, leading to the establishment of the third rung: stochastic gravity, described by the Einstein–Langevin equation. Our pathway from stochastic to quantum gravity is via the correlation hierarchy of noise and induced metric fluctuations. Three essential tasks beckon: (1) deduce the correlations of metric fluctuations from correlation noise in the matter field; (2) reconstituting quantum coherence—this is the reverse of decoherence—from these correlation functions; and (3) use the Boltzmann–Langevin equations to identify distinct collective variables depicting recognizable metastable structures in the kinetic and hydrodynamic regimes of quantum matter fields and how they demand of their corresponding space-time counterparts. This will give us a hierarchy of generalized stochastic equations—call them the Boltzmann–Einstein hierarchy of quantum gravity—for each level of space-time structure, from the the macroscopic (general relativity) through the mesoscopic (stochastic gravity) to the microscopic (quantum gravity).